This invention relates to a method for preparing an infra-red transmissive window that is substantially free of optical distortion. More particularly, it relates to a method for preparing a laminate of zinc selenide and zinc sulfide which overcomes the bimetallic effect arising from the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the two layers. The IR window made by this invention meets the demands of certain applications for which the prior art windows were either unsuitable or prohibitively expensive.
An improved method for the chemical vapor deposition of zinc sulfide on a zinc selenide substrate is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,577, which is incorporated herein by reference. There, the substrate is heated in the presence of H.sub.2 S and the absence of zinc vapor for a certain period of time before the zinc vapor is introduced into the heating chamber. The adhesion of the zinc sulfide to the substrate is greatly improved by that treatment. A problem inherent in the high temperature lamination of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion is the bowing of the laminate in response to the stress sometimes referred to as "the bimetallic effect." The deposition of the zinc sulfide occurs at a temperature of about 700.degree. C. As the laminate is cooled to room temperature, the initially flat upper surface of the zinc selenide substrate becomes convex and the contiguous surface of the zinc sulfide is, perforce, concave. If the substrate is mounted in the heating chamber in such a way that it can not expand and contract freely, the bowing will not be symmetrical and will be extremely difficult to correct by optical grinding methods.
Infra-red transmissive windows made from such bowed laminates are difficult to use in wide-angle "forward looking infra-red imager" systems because of the optical path differences (OPD) for the light rays that pass through the window at different angles to the surface. As the angle of incidence grows larger, the OPD becomes greater. An optician can reduce the OPD by introducing some curvature into the outer surfaces of the laminate to compensate for the interfacial curvature. This is a lengthy and costly process, especially when the curvature is unsymmetrical. Thus, the bowing phenomenon is a deterrent to the widespread application of the ZnSe/ZnS laminate as an infra-red window.